Arqiva to close VoD site Seesaw - News - Broadcast

27 May, 2011 By Alex Farber Arqiva is on the brink of closing its video-on-demand service Seesaw after failing to drum up the necessary funding. It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC - Radio 4 and 4 Extra Blog: The Today programme: The "radio show that one in eight of us now tune in to"

This seemed like enough reason to publish a few pictures from the earlier days of the programme. Des Desmomd Lynam, occasional co-presenter of the programmew, looks on. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Communications minister launches free-to-air Digital TV service TheJournal

The Saorview system can be accessed either by purchasing a set-top box that will decode the digital broadcasts, though newer televisions might already have decoding systems fitted within them.The new system will not require homes to install a satellite dish. The analogue switch-off will not impact on viewers who currently watch TV through a satellite or cable system though it does affect the 340,000-or-so homes which will receive their main TV service through a traditional antenna. - thejournal.ie

www.thejournal.ie

Ofcom bans 36-month contracts and makes number porting easier - Crave - CNET UK

Ofcom has introduced three regulations designed to benefit UK mobile-phone users. The telecoms regulator has banned contracts longer than 24 months, and forced operators to transfer customer's mobile numbers to a new provider within one day. It's also introduced an emergency SMS scheme that will let registered users text, rather than call, 999. - crave.cnet.co.uk

crave.cnet.co.uk

Frequency and Network Planning Aspects of DVB-T2

- tech.ebu.ch

tech.ebu.ch

BBC scraps multiplatform commissioners - News - Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Peter Mullan Launches BBC Alba's Freeview Campaign

From June 8, BBC Alba will be available on Freeview channel 8, which the broadcaster says will greatly increase accessibility for viewers. BBC Alba is also now available on Virgin Media's Cable channel 188. The channel also plays a key role in promoting the Gaelic language as well as supporting language learning through broadcasting programmes for learners and those interested in Gaelic language and culture. - 4rfv.co.uk

www.4rfv.co.uk

Behind the scenes at Today, the most influential programme on British radio - Media - The Guardian

At 5.10 in the morning, it really doesn't look as if the most influential programme onBritish radio will be onair in less than an hour. It has been, by all accounts, a calm night. Three of those in the room havebeen here since 8pm, when theytook over from the day team. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Call for BBC audits to be reported independently to parliament - Media - guardian.co.uk

The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has been discussing the issue. Morse added that at the moment when a BBC report is produced by the NAO it can be subject to delays of up to four months. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

BBC iPlayer - Help - Do I need a TV licence to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer?

Catch-up You do not need a television licence to catch-up on television programmes in BBC iPlayer, only when you watch or record at the same time or virtually the same time as it is being broadcast or otherwise distributed to the public. In BBC iPlayer, this is through the Watch Live simulcast option. Anyone in the UK watching or recording television as it's being broadcast or simulcast on any device - including mobiles, laptops and PCs - must, by law, be covered by a valid TV licence. - iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk

iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk

First 4G LTE trials to begin in UK - Telegraph

The first UK trials of superfast mobile broadband have been announced. In laboratory tests, 4G can offer mobile speeds of up to 150mbps, but both BT and Everything Everywhere sought to dampen expectations that real-world services would deliver that. Sally Davis, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said that while users might be able to get 30mbps at 3 oclock in the morning, much lower speeds would be typical of regular usage. - telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

Doubts over plan to spin off Sky News on stock market - Markets Analysis

Competition - and the prospect of News Corp's owning all of the hugely profitable BSkyB to subsidise its newspapers - has not worried regulators. There will be a carriage and branding agreement so News Corp pays Sky News guaranteed revenue - on a per subscriber, per month basis - for the next 10 years. That is crucial since Sky News is said to lose between 20 million and 30 million a year. - thisislondon.co.uk

www.thisislondon.co.uk

Ennals: momentum growing for digital - Radio Today

The man leading the push towards digital radio switchover in the UK has told RadioToday.co.uk that the industry momentum on the issue is starting to lead to better consumer take-up. He added Digital radio gives listeners in most areas at least 20 extra digital-only stations. An airtime campaign launching on Tuesday will feature the voice of singer Lulu, and were told will aim to increase awareness and understanding of the choice of genres available on digital radio. Tags dab, eradio, ford ennals Category Digital Radio, Top Stories - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: BBC News app comes to Android devices

A lot of people have been asking when the BBC News app will be made available on Android devices, which is understandable given the platform's growing popularity. BBC Worldwide will soon be launching an international version of the app for audiences around the world. Its arrival within Android Market brings immediate access to breaking news and broadcast content to a wider 'on-the-move' audience. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BT to begin 4G LTE trials in UK - Technology - guardian.co.uk

Trials of a new superfast wireless broadband system are to begin in the UK. BT and Everything Everywhere are inviting people to bid for a place on the trial through a web-based system. BT and Everything Everywhere formed from the merger of the T-Mobile and Orange mobile networks hope that it may solve the problem of how to reach distant locations where broadband over standard copper wires doesn't work, and it is deemed uneconomic to lay fibre-optic cable. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Mark Thompson: BBC realised importance of internet in 1990s - Media - guardian.co.uk

BBC director general Mark Thompson speaking during the eG8 conference. Thompson was addressing a session on how traditional businesses have reinvented themselves for the computer age at the forum held on the eve of the G8 economic summit in Deauville on Thursday and Friday. On the opening day of the eG8 event on Tuesday the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, warned against monopoly control, copyright breaches and intrusions into personal privacy on the internet. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

BBC 'concerned' about NAO audit - News - Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: BBC Alba on Freeview

We've recently had to make some difficult choices at the BBC about how we use our digital TV capacity in Scotland. I thought it would be worth sharing the thinking behind our decisions, including how we were influenced by a principle in the BBC Charter and Agreement and insight about audiences' listening and viewing habits. Crucially, the Freeview launch supports the universality principle in the BBC Agreement that asks us to give licence fee payers convenient access to the services that are intended for them. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

S4C chairman designate backs plan to kickstart stalled negotiations with BBC - Media - guardian.co.uk

The BBC is due to take over responsibility for most of S4C's funding from 2013 under a deal agreed between the corporation and the government in October. S4C was kept in the dark about the deal and humiliated over the switch in its funding from automatic government grant to being paid for from the BBC licence fee. Since then there have been stuttering negotiations about establishing a new working relationship between S4C and the BBC, while Welsh-language protesters want the deal rescinded. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

David Abraham's Royal Television Society speech: full text - Media - guardian.co.uk

Michael Jackson had by then gone to America and Mark Thompson was the incumbent. Spectrum Consulting had been asked to forecast the future for Channel 4 by 2010. Even the rosiest picture was bleak so bleak in fact that Mark Thompson was reaching for the begging bowl. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Freeview names marketing comms director - News - Marketing Week

Digital TV switchover is heading to London in April 2012. Freeview customers will still need to retune their set-top boxes in order to receive the new signal. North joins Freeview from Victim Support where he was executive director of marketing. - marketingweek.co.uk

www.marketingweek.co.uk

BBC Trust - Trust launches review of BBC News Channel and BBC Parliament

Please visit the BBC Trust homepage to find the information you want. you may have typed the web address incorrectly - please check the spelling, or that there are no spaces or capital letters. Alternatively, please try the other links and search box on this page. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC - Press Office - Peter Mullan launches BBC Alba's Open Your Eyes Freeview campaign

From 8 June BBC Alba will be available on Freeview channel 8 greatly increasing accessibility for viewers. BBC Alba is also now available on Virgin Media's Cable channel 188. The channel also plays a key role in promoting the Gaelic language as well as supporting language learning through broadcasting programmes for learners and those interested in Gaelic language and culture. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC - Radio 4 and 4 Extra Blog: Daleks on the 7th Dimension: The voice meets the philosopher

From feedback, Peter's debut on Radio 4 Extra is clearly being enjoyed. Presenter of the 7th Dimension Nick Briggs is, as some of you may be aware, the voice of the Daleks and other sundry Whovian monsters. This seemed an appropriate opportunity for the voice of the Daleks to meet and interview an academic who is obsessed by them. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Samsung Reaches Five Million Smart TV App Downloads

Ltd. announced that Samsung Apps, the worlds first application store for the television, has passed the five million download mark globally. Leading the way was YouTube, which ranked as the most downloaded app globally as well as in the United States, the UK and numerous other countries around the world. The success of our developers and the rate at which our downloads have increased are evidence that this new medium of apps designed specifically for the television experience is taking hold in the consumer living room, said. - appmarket.tv

appmarket.tv

Ariel - Campaign points people towards Gaelic language service

- bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC - Research and Development: From Channelography and beyond

They were interested in exploring what makes a channel, a programme, etc by analysing the TV data over and beyond which was supplied by the BBC Backstage project. One of the things people didn't realise about backstage was that if we didn't supply the data, we could put you in touch with people internally who you could do a deal with. This meant we had hackers building seriously amazing prototypes and demos which would never be allowed to see the light of day for fear of copyright worry. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: What's On BBC Red Button 24th May - 6th June 2011

In the last epsiode of the series, Hostile World, we discover how the recurring hero of the series, the phagocyte, was transformed from medical images into a realistic 3D character culminating in a giant battle as it defends your body from invaders. All platforms Thu 26th May, 955pm-400am Stewart Lee Presents... The aim is to introduce children in the 9-11 age range to the arts and to help their teachers deliver the arts curriculum. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Glasgow Liberal Democrats - Glasgow Liberal Democrats - BBC policy change on Alba TV is ‘good for Borderers’ – Moo

The requested URL /scottish-lib-dems/bbc-policy-change-on-alba-tv-is-good-for-borderers--moore.html was not found on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request. - glasgowlibdems.org.uk

www.glasgowlibdems.org.uk

BBC News - Not all plain sailing for gaelic channel BBC Alba

The channel's remit has always been to try to appeal to as many people as possible - not just Gaelic speakers and learners. About 50 of Scots have satellite or cable on their main television set so going on Freeview offers BBC Alba the potential to increase its audience substantially. Market research suggests it is watched by 220,000 people at some point every week but until now conventional viewing figures for specific programmes have not been compiled. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Alba on Freeview on June 8 - Local Headlines - Stornoway Gazette

- stornowaygazette.co.uk

www.stornowaygazette.co.uk

Shift happens: the new way to watch film and TV - Technology - guardian.co.uk

Success made the company one of the largest if not the largest US Postal Service customer. Forget triple-play TV internet Access phone service for a moment. Just for cable TV service, can a normal consumer easily figure out how much the Comcast bill will be - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

BBC HD quietly begins broadcasting in 1080p, but not all Sony HDTVs can handle it -- Engadget

It's taking advantage of a part of the Freeview HD spec that allows the broadcaster to dynamically select between 1080p / 25fps and 1080i / 25fps transmission and the boxes are mandated to be able to output 1080p / 50fps. As if Sony didn't have enough to deal with, the overwhelming majority of complaints appear to center around its TVs and the company has promised more information in the next 7 - 10 days about a fix that will take care of the problem. - engadget.com

www.engadget.com

BBC's complaints procedure faces calls for overhaul - Media - The Guardian

Senior journalists grumble that the constant stream of complaints and legal challenges ties up staff in mounting a defence, often of individual news items or even single quotes while at the same time complainants are frustrated by the slowness with which complaints are resolved. No wonder, then, that Lord Patten, new chairman of the BBC Trust, wants to simplify the corporation's complaints procedure. The costs of handling such objections are particularly galling for BBC staff, given the urgent need for retrenchment in all areas of spending as the corporation faces a 20 budget cut in real terms over the next four years. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

The Kelly Williams debacle does not bode well for ITV - Media - The Guardian

Britain's Got Talent ... but is ITV making the most of its talent They have talked the language of corporate cultural renewal convincingly and with conviction. In fairness they have consistently suggested that previous strategic failure has been mostly a matter of implementation rather than the strategy itself. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

David Abraham: the devil is in the detail - Media - The Guardian

The media agenda has been elsewhere the BBC, cuts, the licence fee, and latterly News Corp and Sky. Television advertising has been surprisingly buoyant recession, what recession, silencing questions about the medium term viabilty of free-to-air television. There have been hits notably the remarkable My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding but the overall ratings tell a different story. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

BBC News - BBC Alba Freeview date unveiled

The Gaelic channel will be on Freeview Channel 8 from 8 June - the same day as the digital switchover begins at the Blackhill transmitter. The channel, which has been on air for more than two years, was originally only available on satellite. However it became available on cable last week. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Digital switchover team set to spend some capital on London - Media - The Guardian

Digit Al, the robot guide to digital switchover Digital switchover has been quietly advancing region by region around the UK since October 2007. The switchover machine has so far run remarkably smoothly, with seven of the 15 UK TV regions already switched and several others in the process of turning off their analogue transmitters. However, when digital switchover comes to London in April 2012 the process will inevitably take place under the gimlet eyes of media and political commentators, most of whom live in the capital. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Radio stations given Freeview reprieve over BBC Alba

It had been expected all the corporation's radio stations would be removed whenever BBC Alba broadcast because of restricted bandwidth. However, three radio stations - 1 Extra, 5 Live and 6 Music - will now remain on the platform 24-hours a day. The date when BBC Alba is launched on Freeview is due to be announced. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC radio to stay in Scotland - Radio Today

Three national radio stations are to remain on Freeview 24/7 in Scotland once BBC Alba launches in the near future. BBC Alba will broadcast from around 1700 till midnight on weekdays, borrowing capacity currently used by numerous radio stations. Through the Strategy Review weve committed the BBC to doing more to ensure that its services can be conveniently accessed by all audiences, and doing more to represent the nations. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

News is a subset of the conversation BuzzMachine

Heres a tale that reveals how journalists tend to think of their role in the conversation that makes up news and society. I think the conversation is happening all around us, with or without the journalists. I teach now that its the role of the journalist to add value to that conversation verification, debunking, facts, reporting, context, platforms, teaching. - buzzmachine.com

www.buzzmachine.com

Watch BBC iPlayer on TV - LED, LCD and plasma TV - TV DVD - Which? Technology

Since the BBCs iPlayer won a Which So with so many ways to watch iPlayer on your TV, which should you choose, what do you need, and how do you connect it all up to watch iPlayer The iPlayer interface on most of these devices is different to the one you'll see in a web browser. iPlayer menus are optimised to view on a larger TV screen, and for easier navigation using a remote control rather than a mouse and keyboard. - which.co.uk

www.which.co.uk

BBC HD 1080p/1080i Switching Causing Audio Dropouts On Some Sony HDTVs

It transpired that the Beeb upgraded the encoding software on its Freeview high-definition channels on 22nd and 23rd of March, allowing programmes which are natively shot at 1080p25 to be automatically transmitted in progressive mode instead of interlaced 1080i25. The Japanese TV manufacturer is aware of the problem, and is working hard on a firmware update to ensure there is no disruption in picture and sound data during transitions from progressive to interlaced modes and vice versa. This is probably due to the televisions aspect ratio being pegged independently to different video formats, and should be rectifiable by setting the same aspect ratio ideally without overscan for both 1080i and 1080p content. - hdtvtest.co.uk

www.hdtvtest.co.uk

The democratic case for local television - openDemocracy

Former BBC director-general Greg Dyke sets out the case for 'very local television' in Britain. Not only is there demand local TV is increasingly needed to fill the void left by failing newspapers. It would be a democratic public service not a paternalistic one. As a Londoner born and bred I have grown more and more frustrated by the dominance of London and the South East in this country. - opendemocracy.net

www.opendemocracy.net

The World Service versus al-Jazeera - The Spectator

Yesterdays debate on the future of the World Service was an unqualified success for its convener, Richard Ottaway. Having recently picked up the Turkish TV channel Cine 5 at auction, it is planning to launch a further Turkish-language news channel. If Hillary Clinton is right about that information war, we should give some serious thought to how to win it. P.S. The cartoon at the top of this post is by Collins. - spectator.co.uk

www.spectator.co.uk

Media Talk podcast: Imogen Thomas, Fred Goodwin and superinjunctions

download.guardian.co.uk

BBC - Radio 4 and 4 Extra Blog: Feedback - Radio 4 Extra: A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

Fred Whalley was among a number of listeners who were sad to lose the children's programming that they had enjoyed on 7, and even some Archers addicts claim to be indifferent to Ambridge Extra. Well these are early days and the retitled network has only been broadcasting for a few weeks, but the BBC Trust was clear that something had to be done to improve the size of audience. The last figures suggest Radio 7 had a 0.6 share of listening, making it a vulnerable target at a time of belt tightening. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Ariel - World Service funding to be reviewed

MPs said that 'the value of the World Service far outweighs its relatively small cost. Speaker after speaker yesterday argued against the cuts, which will mean more than 600 job cuts, praising the role the BBC's international services played in supporting democracy, providing remote communities with their only source of impartial news and raising Britain's international standing. 'The Government has undertaken to reflect on the debate. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: April 2011 BBC iPlayer performance pack

It's time for the latest in the series of monthly BBC iPlayer performance packs. The new series of Doctor Who delivered the most-requested programme this month, with Russell Howard's Good News also returning strongly. The main section of Royal Wedding coverage appears in the list, although in total the whole event delivered more than a million requests via BBC iPlayer. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

EBU makes new hybrid standards call - Broadband TV News

Peter MacAvock, the programme manager of the EBUs technical department, has again called for a single European hybrid standard. Different standards had only resulted in confusion and the implication that the EBU had only looked to the UK. - broadbandtvnews.com

www.broadbandtvnews.com